1. Buy second-hand

The world already has enough ‘stuff’. More and more items are being mass-produced every day, with most of it eventually ending up in landfill. The easiest way to find second-hand items that are in good condition is online, but it can also be fun to trawl through second-hand stores and garage sales, especially for furniture. This way you end up with something more unique and environmentally friendly than something store-bought, for a much better price!

2. Make everything reusable

An easy way to do this is to take your reusable coffee mug to your local coffee shop each day, and request your morning latte be made in that. Same goes for water bottles. Keep a BPA free water bottle in your handbag, or on your desk at all times. An easy way to reduce waste!

3. Careful printing

Not printing at all would be ideal, but we know that’s not always possible! Figure out how to use your printer at work or home properly, and always print double sided. It uses half of the paper (obviously), and saves you money. Another tip is to reduce your font size, spaces and margins to use as much of the paper as possible.

4. Go paperless

Those pesky bills are annoying enough on their own, never mind all the paper they use! No doubt, your bank/phone/gas/electricity company sends you a stack of unnecessary paper inside a paper envelope every month. Even if you recycle it, it still adds up. Go online and request for your bills to be emailed to you instead, and leave your mailbox paper-free.

It’s not an option for everyone but if you can, Public transport is seriously cheap, easy, and so much better for the environment. Wouldn’t you rather read a book or listen to music while you’re on the bus, than be stuck in gridlock traffic? Of course, this isn’t convenient for everyone, but car-pooling might be. Ask your colleagues! Other options include riding your bike, or walking. Getting your daily exercise + helping the environment = awesome.

Everyone has a cupboard full of plastic bags in their kitchen somewhere, but it doesn’t have to be so! For your planned grocery trips, always take reusable bags. If you tend to make spontaneous trips to the shops, buy a fold-up shopping bag that can fit in your handbag. They normally come in key ring form for the blokes as well.

Sure, most people have a recycling bin at home. It’s easy to throw whatever rubbish you have in any bin you can see when you’re not at home. When at the shops, or on holidays, take your plastic bottles or other recyclables home with you, to do the right thing with them (Deborah is notorious for this!) Most shopping centres have a separate bin for recyclables now, so make sure you put the right rubbish in the right bin.

We know it’s hard to give up completely, but an alternative is to go without meat for a couple of days per week. Worldwide, livestock and the production of meat have been identified as major contributors to climate change. Further to this, over 90% of the world’s soya and over 30% of the worlds grains are used to feed farm animals. A scary statistic when you think of how many hungry people there are in the world.

Most cleaning products (even those claiming to be ‘green’), are riddled with nasty chemicals that aren’t good for you, or for the waterways. Vinegar and bi-carb will be your new best friends when cleaning at home. They do a better job than most products, and they’re more Earth friendly.

When and if you can, head to the markets or local grocer to pick up your produce. There’s a real disconnect where our food comes from and our plates. Imagine how many kilometres your groceries would have travelled collectively by truck (pollution!) to get to the supermarket you bought them from? That’s a lot of kilometres!